The Problem with Selling a Home Without an Agent

Posted on
23 August 2017

Are you looking to save money when selling your home by not using an agent? If so, you may find the process more troublesome than you think. Real estate agents play key a key role in the process of putting up homes for sale, and going it alone may show you how difficult it actually is. Here are some problems you'll run into when selling a home without an agent.

Advertising

You can't sell a home if nobody knows about it. The days have passed where all you do is stake a sign into your lawn and place an ad in the local newspaper. The expectations are to use online resources to make the information accessible to everyone.

If you have never advertised a home before, you may struggle with figuring it out for the first time. Not understanding how to tackle the world of online real estate advertising can be a costly mistake that ends up delaying the sale of your home.

Selling Duties

Selling is practically a full time job. If you think you can balance all the things that need to be done with your existing full time job, you may be surprised to learn how difficult it is to balance it it all.

For instance, your home needs great pictures for the listing, which takes skill and equipment to do. You may find yourself needing to outsource the job to a professional photographer because you do not know what you are doing. You'll need to set up showings for potential buyers, and let in home inspectors and appraisers if you accept an offer.

Negotiating

The hardest job will be price negotiation. Without the vast knowledge of what homes sell for, you will have problems negotiating a fair price for your home if a buyer wants to offer less than what you are asking. Many agents perform a comparative market analysis with the data collected from previous home sales. This allows them to know what is currently a fair price for a home.

Navigating Paperwork

The amount of paperwork that needs to be filled out can be surprising. Writing contracts, responding to offer letters, and communicating with a real estate lawyer. You also must ensure that you are gathering all the proper paperwork. For instance, you may not be aware that a seller disclosure form should be filled out, even if there are no known issues with your home.

About Me

As soon as I had saved up enough money to buy my own house, I started wondering where I should start looking. Unfortunately, I was more inclined to pay attention to the different features inside of the house rather than looking outside. I realized that if I wasn't careful, I might unintentionally purchase a place in a bad part of town. To ward off problems, I decided to work with a real estate agent who knew how to help me to avoid problems. This blog is all about investing in the right real estate, so that you can enjoy an appreciating asset.